A Deep Radiance
by GirlGirl2
Summary: Mallory Pike returns from boarding school, now aged 14. How has she, and the other members of the BSC changed?
1. Chapter 1

**The girls are all in Year 10 now, two years have passed and they're 16, expect for Mal and Jessi who are 14. Don't know what that is in American terms.**

"Jessi," a voice called.

Jessi Ramsey stopped in her tracks, recognizing the voices of three of her regular sittees. Adam, Jordan and Byron Pike, all 12 now and in their last year of primary school headed towards her.

"Hey guys" she said cheerfully "What are you doing, shouldn't you be in school still?"

"Shouldn't you." Adam said rudely.

"Teacher training day." Jessi explained.

"Its presentation day" said Byron. "And we aren't getting anything so mum said we could stay home."

"Anyway," Adam interrupted "She said to tell you, Mallory is coming home soon."

The triplets laughed at her astonished face and grinned.

"What, when?" Jessi stammered.

"Soon. Tomorrow, so she has tomorrowand then back to school." Jordan and Adam pulled disgusted faces and Byron looked faintly troubled, leaving Jessi to wonder why they didn't want to see Mallory.

The boys wandered off then, leaving Jessi standing still in the middle of the street thinking.

**5:29pm chez Kishi.**

"Hey Claud, Kristy isn't going to be late is she?"

"I suppose there's a first time for everything.

"Not for that," Kristy announced, dashing through the door and sitting down in 'her' chair.

Dawn laughed from her position on the bed, glancing out the window.

"Here comes Jessi. Then everyone will be here."

"Hey Jess" she called down laughingly. "30 seconds."

Jessi waved and sped up, coming through the door just as the clock ticked over to 5:30.

"Hey guys, I've got something to tell you." she said casually sitting on the floor by herself.

"Come to order." Kristy said, more out of habit than conviction.

Dawn looked around. Jessi was sitting with one leg stretched out, moving her feet. Claudia and Stacey were painting each other's nails on Claudia's bed, Mary Anne was reading the appointment book and Kristy was sitting in 'her' chair, drumming her fingers on the side.

"I think we're all ordered." Dawn said wryly.

"Hey Mary-Anne" Stacey interrupted. "I've got a...'special day' planned, so count me out for all this weekend. The others laughed, except for Kristy. 'Special day' was code for 'something better to do, usually involving the masculine element.

Dawn nodded, remembering all the strife the club had gone through when its members first discovered interests not related to children. Many fights had gone on, mostly Claudia and Stacey versus Kristy. Eventually they realised that a compromise would have to be reached, as the girls wished to continue their business, and have social lives.

"Guess what?" Jessi said, becoming impatient.

"What?" Dawn asked, turning to look at the dark skinned dancer.

"Mallory's coming back to Stoneybrook!" she burst out happily.

The girls smiled and "That's great." "That's fantastic."

"Good, now my carpet can have two equally worn patches again. Symmetry is restored." Claudia teased.

Dawn interposed "Claudia knows what symmetry is?" looking at her earrings, one a small skeleton, the other a half moon.

"Yes she does." Claudia replied, tossing her head.

"Mal's coming back. That's great Jessi" Kristy jumped in. "Are you going to go over and see her when she comes?"

"No." Jessi shook her head. "I don't want to get in the way, I'll wait 'till she finishes unpacking and stuff and calls me."

The phone rang then and Mary-Anne answered, setting up a job for herself looking after Jamie and Lucy Newton. The rest of the meeting the girls talked about Mallory's return, looking forward to seeing her again. Walking home afterwards Jessi couldn't help but feel a little nervous, which she felt ridiculous about. _Wonder how she is?_

It'd been two years since any of them had seen Mallory in person, and Jessi and Mal hadn't written each other in months. _I'm sure we'll pick up where we left off. Good old Mal._

**Just so you know**

**Shannon is gone. Anna and Abby (or whoever they are, not sure) never existed. It's just the originals in the club now: Stacey, Claudia, Dawn, Kristy, M.A, and Jessi.**


	2. At the Meeting

The Pike family waited at the train station- well some of it.

Claire, Margo and Vanessa, and Mr and Mrs Pike, stood waiting.

Mrs Pike's face was strained, whether from the 45 minute car ride with three squabbling sisters or the anticipation of Mallory's arrival it was hard to tell.

The triplets and Nicky had declined to come, and so at home with them was Dawn, babysitting Nicky.

"I'm too old to have a babysitter!" Nicky Pike had protested.

"We'll baby-sit him Mum." The triplets said, smiling. Eventually it had been decided that whilst the triplets were older enough to not need a babysitter for the hour or two that the adults would be away, Nicky was not, and the triplets couldn't be trusted to do it.

"Hey, here's her train." Vanessa said, in straight prose, no rhymes.

The train pulled to a noisy halt and passengers disembarked, whilst their luggage was unloaded and left by the side of the train. "There's Mal's stuff! Let's go wait by it for her." the adults said. Vanessa and Claire followed obediently, whilst Margo wandered over to examine the train tracks.

A group of elderly people disembarked the train, chatting eagerly. Behind them came a few couples. A couple of minutes passed, the stream of people getting off the train changed to a trickle.

Mr Pike sighed impatiently. "What if she missed the train?" Mrs Pike worried.

At last, 10 minutes after the final person departed from the train, the doors opened again and a figure stepped out.

"Hey Mum, Dad." Mallory said casually, taking her headphones off briefly to get a better grip on her bag.

Mrs Pike hugged her hard and Mallory flinched away, disentangling herself with ease and slipping her headphones on. "So, where's the car?" she asked, totally ignoring her siblings who stood looking at her.

Mr Pike pointed and Mallory led the way, followed by her family.

The ride home was quiet as Mallory stared out the window, and her family attempted to engage her in conversation. "So Mal, are you glad to be home?"

Shrugs.

"What's boarding school like?"

"S'ok."

The ride home was quiet.

Dawn Schafer looked up from her homework and did a quick run through of where everyone was. The triplets, gone to a friend's place. Nicky in the living room watching T.V. "Are you okay Nick?" she called.

"Yeah" Nicky shouted back.

She turned back to her homework just in time to hear the sound of wheels in the driveway. "Hey, they're home." Nicky called, coming into the room where Dawn was.

Dawn got up and put her homework away.

"Hey guys, we're home" Mrs Pike called as she came through the door.

"Oh hi Dawn, just hang on a sec and I'll pay you." Mrs Pike went into the kitchen. Claire, Margo and Vanessa followed her and then Dawn heard their footsteps on the stairs.

She turned back around and gasped in shock. Mallory entered the house, nodded at Dawn and stopped, waiting for her to say something.

"Hi Mal," Dawn said awkwardly, smiling.

"Hello Dawn. It's…good to see you."

"Yeah, you too." Dawn said. "Look, I have to go," she said, as Mrs Pike paid her, "But it's really great to see you, I hope you come to the meeting tomorrow."

Mallory looked puzzled. 'Meeting?"

"Of the club." Dawn explained.

Mallory frowned, "Still on is it?" and then smiled. "Well, sure, I guess I can do that."

Dawn headed out the door; half certain Mallory had sneered at her. _No, Mal's probably just tired._

* * *

The next day Dawn arrived at Claudia's house at 5:28 scowling at the clock as she came in.

"What's up with you?" Kristy asked from her position in the director's chair.

"Nothing, I was just hoping to be a bit early so I could talk to you guys about something." Dawn said disappointedly.

"Later" Kristy said briefly, shooting her a curious look and looking at the door. Swift footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs and Jessi burst into the room, flinging herself down on the rug and looking around the room. "Mal's not here yet?"

"No." Kristy smiled. By 5:30, the rest of the club had assembled sitting in their customary places but still no Mal.

The phone rang at precisely 5:30, Dawn answering it calmly and sitting up a job for Kristy.

Mallory waited outside the front door, checking her watch, it was35 past 5. Automatically she felt guilty, and then laughed it off. '_it's just a stupid club Mal'_ she reminded herself, opening the door to Claudia's house and breezing past her surprised parents who looked at each other, wondering who the strange girl heading up the stairs was.

Again an unaccountable feeling of nervousness pervaded her and Mallory paused at the closed door to Claudia's room.

She glanced down at herself, adjusting her shirt, and wiping a bit of carpet fluff off her black, knee length boots, tucked securely away under her pants.

A burst of laughter from inside the room comforted her, and Mallory pushed open the door.

Silence fell.

6 pairs of eyes turned to the door.

Whatever Mallory had imagined about her return, it wouldn't be the looks of disbelief on their faces.

Jessi spoke up from her position on the floor. "Mal? You're here."

She stood up and awkwardly came over to Mal, hugging her. Mal hugged her back.

"It's great to see you Jessi." She said flatly, standing in the middle of the room and looking around at her old friends.

Kristy, still in Jeans and a t-shirt although not sporting any pictures of dogs at least. Her hair, still in the pony tail, actually looked like she brushed it occasionally.

Mary-Anne, who still dressed like a kid in an old storybook. Stacey and Claudia in 'popular girl' clothing, tight jeans, small tops. Mallory's eyes rested on Claudia's earrings, a coke bottle and a wine bottle and she frowned, aware in the back of her head that once she would have found them both cute and cool, and now they just looked ridiculously pathetic.

Jessi wore her usual tracksuit over her ballet gear, and she smiled brightly as Mal looked at her.

Lastly Mallory turned to Dawn, whose casual style she'd always liked the most and a smile was forced out of her when she noticed that Dawn was wearing a similar outfit to hers, the same long pants but her sleeveless top was red, and Mallory's was black. On her feet she wore low black shoes. 'Hey Dawn.' Mallory said.

"What the hell happened to you?" Kristy burst out disbelievingly, ignoring the censuring looks she got from the others.

Mallory turned to face her, a sneer on her face. "I was wondering," she said coldly, in a voice none of the others had ever heard before "when you would revert back to your rude thirteen years old self, but I gave you a little more credit than that, I didn't think you'd last 5 seconds."

"Sorry" Kristy said, abashed. "I just meant, you look different."

Mallory scowled. "It's amazing what two and a half years can do, isn't it girls?" she addressed the room.

'_Yeah'. _The girls thought in unison, each feeling varying degrees of emotions.

Despite her shock, Stacey couldn't help but notice that Mallory's new brown hair looked much better than her frizzy reddish hair.

"Somewhere in those two and a half years Mal's learnt what eyeliner and mascara is" Claudia whispered to Stacey. "Yeah, but it's so…not Mal." She whispered back.

"If we are all finished judging me, I thought we were here for a reason." Mallory said, looking at Kristy. "We aren't all judging you" Jessi put in, and Dawn nodded shooting Kristy a dirty look.

_Way to make her feel welcome._

The phone rang. "And we are here for a reason," Kristy said, picking up the phone.

"Hey Mal," Kristy asked, a little stiffly "You want to sit for Lucy Newton?"

Mallory looked at her, and reveled in the familiarity of it all. Of course, life in Stoneybrook could never be the eclectic life away from it. Never the fast switching between stiff exams and hard classes, to drinks and dancing afterwards. Mallory looked at Kristy and in her eyes saw the girl she used to be, clean as anything, never even heard the word pot unless it was followed by "plant", awkward and gangling, letting red hair and glasses slow her down.

"No thanks." She said. "I'm busy Saturday."

"Doing what?" Jessi asked curiously.

Dawn, who'd been silently appraising her up until then jumped in before Mallory could.

"Hey, she just got back, she can sit later."

"Okay" Kristy shrugged, passing the job on.

"It's six." Claudia announced, adjusting her earring in the mirror.

"Okay." Mallory said. _I'm out of here_. She glanced around at these people who'd been her friends, who she'd once admired and respected, and wished to be like, and stood up.

"Bye guys."


	3. Making a Meeting

Mallory walked home slowly, head down. Despite all her trying, a tear slipped out and ran down her cheek. _Stupid Bitches. _Shethought_. Just a bunch of kids sitting for kids._ Dawn's face flashed into her mind. Well...not her.

"Mal! Mal!" Mallory turned around, wiping the tear away firmly.

"Jessi." she said, flatly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Mallory said, "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

Jessi smiled. "I don't know. You're right. There's no law against you changing your clothes."

Mallory nodded curtly, feeling a bit better. _Not Jessi?_

"So..." she said a trifle awkwardly."How's ballet?"

Jessi grinned. "I have a lead in a production we're doing, it's in two weeks. Here, I'll show you" Mal watched Jessi demonstrate some moves for her, and despite herself, she smiled. "Great."

Jessi stopped. "What about you, tell me about boarding school."

Mallory tensed up. "Um...nothing really special to tell...I have to go...mum wants me home...seeya." without waiting for Jessi to reply she headed for home, aware that her friend was staring after her.

_Can't tell you Jessi. Look at you. None of you would get it...you're all still stuck in fairyland. It's like you live in Sweet Valley or something._ Still, despite her boredom, her sadness and her frustration with the rose-tinted streets of Stoneybrook, Mal felt a little happier knowing that Jessica Ramsey was capable of rising above the stupid crap the others put out. Kristy for example. Mallory scowled. _Kristy the sanctimonious. Claudia and Stacey the air-headed bimbo's with small minds and smaller tops_.

Mallory smirked to herself as she rounded a corner and saw her house. _And Mary Anne, who probably died on the spot when she saw me. Jesus Christ! It's not like I've got lip studs and tongue studs and all the other metals my other friends have. It's just in good old rosy America, black clothes equals' evil. _

* * *

The next morning, Mal woke at 6am, and padded downstairs. She quickly and quietly fixed herself a cup of Milo, shaking her head at her mug all the while. At school, they had coffee in the morning if they wanted it, but despite all her trying Mal had never managed to like coffee, or tea, and so would sit down at her table with a mug of Milo. "Like a first year." 

She sipped the hot liquid slowly, leafing through yesterday's newspaper. 7:27am, precisely, and the triplets appeared in the kitchen, sporting identical sleepy grins.

"Hey Mal" "Hey Mal" "Hey Mal"

"Hey." She replied.

"Make us breakfast?"

Mallory looked up from the paper in disbelief. She vaguely remembered doing that for them when they were 10. "You want me to make you breakfast?" she said irritably.

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Fine."

When she was done, and the triplets were eating pancakes happily, Mallory remembered why she didn't make them breakfast. The boys tended to wriggle out of cleaning up, leaving her to clean it all up.

"Okay guys, you are washing up, you are cleaning the kitchen, and you are doing it **before** you go to school. If you don't do it- that's your own problem, I'll just leave all the dishes and pans and stuff in your rooms, possible on your pillows so that you can find it easier. So don't fuck with me." Mallory ordered, watching their faces. They looked shocked, but nodded.

"Good morning sweetie," Mr and Mrs Pike entered the room.

"Hey. I'm gunna go now, get to school early."

The Pikes looked at each other, and smiled hesitantly. "That's good kiddo, getting right back in the swing of things." Said Mr Pike. "But are you sure," he hesitated. "I mean, those shoes can't be comfortable."

Mallory looked down. She was still wearing slippers.

"Oops."

Later, as she was heading into school Mallory couldn't help but laugh. One, because despite everything she was still the kind of person who would forget they had slippers on, and also because her parents thought she'd changed so much she'd do it deliberately.

School was weird. Some part of her expected everyone to turn and stare, then yell "Spaz Girl!", but it didn't happen. That is, people stared, but there were no snickering comments. No nicknames. At lunchtime, Mallory headed over to a table by the window, not worried about being alone.

She sat down and stared out the window for a few minutes before a voice called out. "Hey Mal!"

Jessi came over to her table. "Uh, hey Jess." Mallory said.

"How's your first day back been?" Jessica asked, not noticing Mallory's cold expression.

"Fine." _Except that the teachers are incompetent, the guys are try-hards and the girls are ugly_.

"You haven't told me anything about your school you know."

"So?"

"Do you want to have a sleepover?"

Mal stared. _With hairdressing and laughing and 'scary' movies? Jesus. Haven't done that in years._

"Uh, sure." _Anything to get out of the house._

"Okay. Jessi said enthusiastically."The others too? Well, Kristy and Mary-Anne and Dawn?"

"Are they really your friends Jessi?" Mal asked, searching her friends face.

"What do you mean?" the other girl replied. "I mean, sure they are, I guess." She looked uncertain.

'Things changed whilst you were gone. The club...it's really more of a business now. This is weird, because they take it less seriously. Even I do. I've got ballet, and whilst I still want the money, I don't have as much time." Mallory nodded. _I've got time- but if I start that baby crap again I'll die. They'll force me back into the old spot. Good old Mal, always ready to be everyone's doormat. Patronised and condescended to._

"And," Jessi continued, "We're not close. Stacey and Claudia have kind of, broken away."

A new voice interrupted. "And Kristy is clinging desperately to the shreds of her club, unwilling or unable to see that no-one is interested. Even Mary Anne isn't, but she'll let Kristy dictate to her forever."

The two girls turned. Dawn Shafer nodded to them both.

"Sorry to interrupt- but I knew Jessi wouldn't be able to say it." She grinned. "It might be impolitic."

Jessi laughed.

"Anyway, I have to go, it's great to see you Mal," Dawn smiled at her again, and walked away. Mallory stared after her; despite herself a smile came to her lips.

"Invite Dawn." She muttered, turning away from the dancer. "Gotta go home. Seeya."

Jessi shook her head. _What's going on with that girl?_

**Next chapter: Mallory talks about her school and the person she just broke up with.**

**This is 'T' for a reason, and unless I get strenuous objections it might go up to M. So speak now or forever be silent. Lol.**


End file.
